CFO Services Case Study

Clearleap

Clearleap Needed a Fractional CFO

Clearleap had a platform that was just begging to scale. TechCXO gave them the financial blueprint to raise smart, grow strategically, and exit big.

“TechCXO guided us through our development, growth, and our successful exit.”

— Braxton Jarratt, CEO, Clearleap

Overview

Clearleap, a cloud-based video platform founded in 2008, enabled media and entertainment brands to deliver rich, on-demand video experiences across devices. With technology tailored for massive scalability and a client list that included HBO, Verizon, and the NFL, the company was poised for rapid growth.

But building a category-defining company in a fast-evolving market required more than innovative technology. Clearleap needed capital, controls, and credible financial leadership to scale globally and prepare for a high-value exit.

Challenges

As Clearleap grew from $500K to over $20M in revenue, it encountered the kinds of complexities that challenge most early-stage ventures:

  • Increasingly complex capital strategy involving multiple rounds of equity and debt financing
  • Need for credible financial oversight and investor-ready operations
  • International expansion into Europe and Asia, requiring new infrastructure and compliance capabilities
  • Rapid team growth to over 100 employees across three continents

Goals

To keep up with market demand and investor expectations, Clearleap needed to:

  • Raise capital strategically to fund growth while maintaining fiscal discipline
  • Build an institutional-grade finance function that could scale
  • Establish international operations quickly and compliantly
  • Navigate the transition from fractional to full-time CFO leadership ahead of a potential acquisition

Solutions

To meet these goals, Clearleap engaged Neal Miller as fractional CFO through TechCXO. Neal worked closely with the executive team, board, and investors over a four-year period to steer the company through critical inflection points.

Neal’s financial leadership:

  • Led multiple rounds of equity and debt financing, raising over $40 million in capital
  • Built the company’s financial operations and controls to support scale and international growth
  • Structured capex financing to align with revenue expansion
  • Supported launch operations in Europe and Asia, including compliance and financial infrastructure
  • Recruited and transitioned to a full-time CFO as part of long-term leadership planning

As fractional CFO, Neal Miller helped Clearleap raise capital, scale operations, and prepare for acquisition, providing the financial leadership needed to match the company’s global ambitions.

Neal Miller

Fractional CFO

Neal brings decades of experience as a senior finance executive, helping high-growth tech firms raise capital, professionalize operations, and execute successful exits.

Outcome

Clearleap was acquired by IBM in 2015, becoming the foundation of IBM’s new Cloud Video Services division. The deal delivered a significant return for investors and marked a strategic milestone for the company.

With a finance function designed for enterprise rigor, Clearleap launched services across North America, Europe, and Asia, reaching more than 10 million users and supporting clients like HBO, Comcast, Roku, and Apple.

Clearleap’s global expansion and strategic exit weren’t just product wins, they were the result of smart financial architecture built and led by Neal Miller and TechCXO.

Capital to capability

With over $40 million raised and deployed, Clearleap transformed funding into scale-ready operations

into scale-ready operations. From startup to standout

What began as an early-stage disruptor became the cornerstone of IBM’s enterprise cloud video strategy.

TechCXO guided us through our development, growth and our successful exit.

- Braxton Jarratt, CEO, Clearleap

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